Music-holder for self-playing musical instruments.



l. B. SMITH & C. W. DORRICOTT. MUSIC HOLDER FOR SELF PLAYING MUSICALINSTRUMENTS. APPLICATION FILED JULY 3, I912.

1,170,572. Patented Feb. 8, 1916.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

$4 4AA h EA APPLICATION FILED JULY 3. 1912.

Patented Feb. 8, 1916.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2 TNB COLUIAIIA rumoalAPM 90., WASHINGTON, D. C-

I. B. SMITH 81 0. W. DORRICOTT. MUSIC HOLDER FOR SELF PLAYING MUSICALINSTRUMENTS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 3,1912.

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THE COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH c0., WASHINGTON, n. c.

l. B. SMITH & C. W. DORRICOTT.

MUSIC HOLDER FOR SELF PLAYING MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 3. 1912.

1,170,572. Patented Feb. 8,1916.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

'mB COLUMBIA PLArfDflR/xnn cm, WASHINGTDN, n. c.

STATES: PATENT OFFICE.

ravine l. man a]; o IAii Es' w. DORRICOTT, 0E PHILADELPHIA,PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOBS TO ELEGTBE COMPANY, 01 sUmnnALE, PHILADELPHIA,PENN- SYLVANIA, A CORPORATION 01 PENNSYLVANIA.

MUSIC-HOLDER FOB SELF-PLAYING MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 8, 1916.

Application filed July 3, 1912. Serial No. 707,525.

the county of Philadelphia, and State of.

have invented new and use- Pennsylvania, ful Improvements inMusic-Holders for Self-Playing Musical Instruments, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in music roll holders forself-playing musical instruments, particularly pianos, and has for itsobject to provide means for correctly positioning in playing position infront of the keyboard, a roll holder of that type which is pivotallyconnected to a slide on which it is swung downwardly and then with theslide is'pushed rearwardly out of sight and also out of the way of aplayer manually operating the piano keys.

Another object of the invention refers to the contact fingers of anelectrically operated instrument; the supporting bar or comb therefor;means for moving said comb to adjust the contact fingers to the positionof the perforations in the music sheet, and a guard for the contactfingers to cover and protect the same, said fingers being delicate andeasily bent out of place when changing the music roll, said guardpreventing the fingers of the player, the music sheet, or any part ofthe players clothing, such as a sleeve, touching the contact fingers.

Still another object of the invention is directed to the drivingmechanism for the take-up roll and the rewind, which is strong, simpleand very efficieut and by means of a single lever, either the take-up orthe rewind are optionally thrown into gear and a brake mechanismsimultaneously actuated for governing the rotation of the music sheetwhile unwinding.

With these and other objects in view the invention consists of the novelconstruction, combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter describedin detail, pointed. out in the appended claims and illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view oftheimvery proved roll holder drawn forward to playing position in front ofthe keyboard of a piano. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the roll holderpartly in section with the front plate removed. Fig. 3 is a crosssectional view, on the line Fig. 2, of the roll holder and a portion ofthe keyboard of a p1ano to which the holder is attached. Fig. 4 is alike view of the roll holder on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is anelevation of the clutch mechanism for coupling up the rewind. Fig. 6 isan end view lookng from the left of Figs. 1' and 2. Fig. 7 1s a detailplan view of the driving mechanism. Fig. 8 is a perspective view of aportion of the finger rail or comb. Fig. 9 1s an enlarged view of aportion of the finger rail or comb, and one set of fingers in contactwith the music sheet. Figs. 10 and 11 are diagrammatic views of a set offingers and a portion of the music sheet. Figs. 12 and 13 are views inend elevation showing the link connection between the contactrollerframe and the finger guard, certain of the parts being omitted forclearness of illustration. Fig. 14 is a detail-view of the contactfinger adjusting screw.

In the drawings, the letter A indicates a piano keybed of any well knownconstruction, on the underside of which are fastened spaced rails B,grooved to receive a sliding plate C adapted to be moved back and forthbeneath the keybed A in a manner well understood. Pivotally connected tothe sliding plate C is a music sheet roll holder 20 from the rear ofwhich project arms 21 pivoted at 22 'to depending lugs 23 on the slidingplate C in such manner that.

the roll holder 20 may be swung from a position in front of the keyboardof. the piano to a position thereunder and back from the front bylowering said roll holder and pushing backward the sliding plate C, sothat the roll holder will be out of sightwhen not in use and away fromthe knees of a person playing on the piano keys in the ordinary manner.

To properly adjust the roll holder when raised to playing position, abracket 24 is fastened on each side platev 25,, 25 of said holder, eachbracket having two arms 26 and 27 at a right angle to each other on theends of which are soft cushions or buttons 2 29 arranged to bear on thefront and underside, respectively, of the lreybed A when the roll holderis in operative position. As thus constructed there are but four poin ofcontact between the roll holder and the lreybed, two contact points ateach one. By this arrangement the roll holder is held firmly and rigidlyin place when playing, and wabbling and rattling prevented. A pringlatch 30 is fastened to the roll holder in position to engage the frontedge of the sliding plate C and retain said roll holder when elevated. Ahandle 31 extends upward'from the latch 30 sufficiently far tobe'conveniently operated by'the lingers when it is desired to releasethe roll holder.

Attached to the front edge of the sliding plate G and to a transverserod connect in the side plates 25, 25, is a helical spring 'hich istensioned when the roll holder islowored and prevents the same fromdropping suddenly, should it slip from the hand of the player, and swingrearwardly against the sliding plate to the injury of the roll holder.ti hen in playing position, the end of the spring 33 attached to the rod32 is forward of its attachment to the'sliding plate, but when the rollholder is swung downwardly and rearwardly the rod 32 passes under thesliding plate attachment and the tension of the spring is exerted toretain the roll holder upward against said sliding plate, as clearlyshown in dotted lines in F 3.

The side plates 25 and 25 are spaced apart by transverse bars 32, 3-1and 35 secared to said plates, the whole forming a rigid frame in whichare mounted the takeup roll 36, the contact finger comb 37, the combsupporting rail 38, a swinging frame 39 in which is journaled the fingercontact roller 4-0, and a support on each of said plates for themusic-sheet spool e1. The driving mechanism is carried on the plate 25and the take-up mechanism on the plate 25.

Journaled in bear ings d2 on the plates 25, 9 5 is a shaft on which thetake up roll 36 is mounted to turn independently of the shaft or withthe shaft when connected thereto by a clutch of any approved type,partly shown at 44- Fig. 2. A wormgear wheel to is fastened on one endof the shaft 43 outside the plate 25 and a spur gear wheel on theopposite end of the same shaft outside the plate 25. A worm 4C7 on ashaft suitably supported in hearings on the plate 25 engages the wormwheel and rotates the same through the medium of a friction disk 49mounted on the worm shaft and peripherally engaging the face of thedriving pulley 50 over which passes a belt leading to a suitable motivepower. VVhenthe driving pulley is rotated its friction face, preferablycovered with some material 51 such as leather, turns the disk 50 and theworm sliaftwith the worm 4:7, thus rotating the worm wheel and the shaft43. The speed of rotation of the take up roll and hence the tempo of themusic being played is governed by the position of the friction dish withrelation to the driving pulley. YVhen the disk is near the periphery ofthe pulley, it rotates faster than when near the center of the same, asis evident, so to govern the speed of the disk it is made to slidelongitudinally on the shaft 48 by means of a lever, called a tempolever, the movement of which changes the position of the disk. The tempolever 52 islhere shown as pivoted on a stud 58 projecting from the outerside of'the plate 25, the upper end of the lever having a finger piecethereon. The lower end of the tempo lever has a pin and slot connectionwith a rocking arm 5% on which is pivoted a finger 55 engaging anannular groove in the hub of the friction disk 49. From. the above, itis clear that when the tempo lever is moved the friction disk will slideon its shaft to and from the axis of the driving pulley 50 and thusdecrease or increase the speed of the take up roll 36 and the musicsheet 57. i

It is desirable that the action of the tempo lever be not too free, asthe player is liable to move it in one direction or the other a greaterdistance than the music sheet calls for. To prevent this the stud 58 hasits outer end 59, on which tile tempo lever is pivoted, of less diameterand screw threaded. A friction washer 60 is placed on each side of thetempo lever and a nut 61 threaded on the reduced end 59 of the stud,which nut can be turned by the fingers to press the washers more or lessagainst the tempo lever, and thus increase the force necessary to moveit. The inner end of the nut 61 is counter-bored to receive a helicalspring which presses at all times against the'outer washer.

The spur gear wheel 46 on the end of the shaft 43 opposite that which.carries the vorm gear 1 5, will, of course, rotate with the shaft, itsmotion. being transmitted to a pinion 62 rotatably mounted on a stubshaft 68 and longitudinally movable thereon. The longitudinal movementof the pinion 62 isa limited one, the pinion always remaining in mesh.with the gear wheel 46. A sprocket wheel 64 is also mounted to rotatebut not to slide on the stub shaft 63, and is connected to anddisconnected from said pinion by means of a clutch 65, as the pinion ismoved longitudinally on its shaft.

Journaled in the top of the side plate 25 is a short shaft 66 havingmeans on one end numerals 71 and '72, said legs being pivoted to swingon the shaft 43, beyond the ends of the take up roll 36. The legs arecontinued above the bar 70 to form bearings 73 for the finger contactroller 40, against one end of which bears a spring finger 74 connectedto the return wire 75 of the electric current. The swinging frame 39 isoscillated by a resilient lever 76 fastened at its lower end to the leg72 and extending above the edge of the side plate 25 where it isfashioned into a finger grip 77. On the rear edge of the leg 72 isformed a cam 78 see Figs. 4 and 5 facing the side plate 25 which, as theswinging frame 39 is moved to the rear, strikes the end of a pin 7 9extending through the side plate and pushes it outwardly, causing aplate 80 on the outer end of said pin and seated in an annular groove 81in the hub of the pinion 62 to slide the pinion toward the sprocketwheel 64 and move the clutch 65 into engagement, thus throwing therewind mechanism into operation. When playing, the swinging frame is inthe position represented in full lines in Figs. 3, 4 and 12 and held insuch position by means of a lock plate 82 with the front edge of whichthe spring lever 76 engages. I During the rewinding operation theswinging frame is pushed back against a stop pin to the positionindicated by dotted lines in Fig. 4, being held in this position by thehand of the player, but as soon as the music sheet has been rewound onthe spool, the lever is released and the swinging frame returns to theposition indicated in Fig. 13, being retained in this position by therear edge of the lock plate 82, where it remains while changing themusic sheets and until playing is to be resumed. The position of the pin79 relative to the cam 78 is such that the rewinding mechanism is notconnected up until the swinging frame is in its dotted position, theclutch being uncoupled by a helical spring 83 when the swinging framereturns to the position indicated in Fig. 13. The rearward movement ofthe swinging frame automatically disengages the clutch 44 connecting thetake-up roll with its shaft 43 to permit free rotation of the take-upduring rewinding operation.

When playing, the music sheet spool is free to turn as the music sheetadvances, and it often happens, especially during rapid passages, thatthe spool turns faster than the feed of the music sheet, thus tending toloosen the turns of the music sheet on the spool, crowding the musicsheet forward toward the contact fingers and endangering the integrityof said music sheet by creasing, rumpling and possibly tearing it. Toprevent this spool from too rapid rotation and to hold it always underan even tension While P y g, a brake is provided to act on 3" the musicspool holder as the music sheet is being unwound from the spool and torelease said brake during the rewind.

The brake mechanism comprises a lever 84, see Figs. 3 and 4 pivoted at84 on'the inner face of the side plate 25, the upper end of said levercarrying a brake shoe 85 which bears against the periphery of the disk69 on the spool operating shaft 66. The other and lower end of the brakelever 84 has a pin and slot connection with a link 86 pivoted to the leg72 of the swinging frame 39. A spring 87 is employed to hold the shoe 85against the disk 69 and also serves to move the swinging frame 39 fromits rewind-position indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 4 to themusic-spool-changing position shown in Fig. 13. While playing, theswinging frame and brake mechanism are in the position indicated mostclearly in Fig. 4, the brake shoe bearing on the disk; but when theswinging frame 39 is moved to the rear the link 86 is drawn forward fora. suitable distance without moving the brake lever because of the pinand slot coneach end in forwardly opening recesses 88 1 made in brackets89 rigidly fastened to the inner faces of the respective side plates 25,25, said rail being retained in the recesses by means of swinginglatches 90 pivoted on the brackets above the rail to swing downwardly infront of the rail ends and prevent the rail from falling out of therecesses. These latches are turned up when the rail is to be removedfrom the roll holder. Fastened on the back of the rail 38 is a contactfinger supporting bar or comb 37 a little shorter than the rail andextending some distance above the same, and made of some insulatingmaterial such as wood. The top 92 of the comb 38 has a downwardinclination toward its rear side, which side has formed thereon near itstop a slightly projecting rib 3, the upper surface of which iscontinuous with the inclined top 92 of the comb. Through the top of thecomb and extending below the rib 93 are a plurality of parallel slots9%- equal in number to the number of key actions to be operated. Closeagainst the front side of the comb l e a number of spring contactfingers 95 which err tend upward from near the bottom of said comb toand slightly higher than the bottoms of the slots 9 1, and thence eachthrough a slot to the rear side of the comb where said fingers terminatejust below the rib 93 and to the rear of the same in position to bearagainst the contact roller l0 on the swinging fra T06 39 when said frameis in its forward position, as in Fig. 3. It is to be noted that eachcontact finger 95 is made of several strands of preferably fine phosphorbronze wire a, l), and 0 bent rearwardly at their upper ends in the formof hooks that extend through a slot 94: in a downward direction. Theterminals (Z or the bent of the strands a, Z) and c are convenientlyarranged to produce the best results in the manner shown in Figs. 9, 10and 11. Here it will be seen that two of tie terminals are placed sideby side, while the third terminal lies above and between the two and isslightly shorter, the two lower terminals being oi. equal length, or ofdifferent lengths as desired.

In music sheets for automatic piano players the perforations very shortnotes, such as thirty-second and sixty-fourth notes, are very short andwhen a single contact finger is used the length. of time it is inengagement with the contact roller is exceed ingly short, so much so infact that the piano action, operated when the circuit is closed, doesnot fullyact, with the result that no tone is produced, or, if a tone issounded, it is thin, faint and unsatisfactory. This fault corrected bymaking the strands which form a contact finger of dillerent lengths, thecontacting end of one finger being slightly in advance of the other adistance less than the length of the shortest perforation so that whenthe first strand closes the circuit through the perforation, before itis lifted out, the second strand enters the perforation and keeps thecircuit closed sufiiciently long to produce a full tone of the shortestnote. The above arrangement of the contact fingers is known in the art,but the present invention, instead oi't' using straight StI'iIIlClS toform fina group of three strands are employed for each finger with bentor hook-sh sped enging ends which lie within the grooves 9%- in the comb37, and protected from injury by the walls thereof. The straightportions or body of the contact fingers lie close against the outer sideof the comb and only the extreme ends of the fingers which enthe musicsheet 57 and the contact roller l0 project beyond said comb, and theseends project from its inner side. From this it will be evident tactfinger 95 of mg the contact end. i" 1 'n tn :i-n j -7 m to be protector.b .e s-

t by making each con- ?l fine wires and bendof said fingers so as lout-ed ed go of a comb,

better t .ebtained and protection irom afi'orded said fingers. The

lower nds or" the fingers pass through holes of the contact fingers aryto correctly posl- Lateral a --ment is sometimes zlecess tron them withrespect in the music sheet. F01 this purpose one end of the rail hereshown the left of the r ll holder, is cored and threaded to receive l nothreaded end 97 of a rod 98 projecting utside the roll holder and fittedwith a nger hold 99 for rotating said rod to move he rail eariving thecomb 3? and contact ngers 95 in a longitudinal direction. The 'od may besupported in any suitable way, ut as shown in the drawings, a collar 100Oh the rod 98 bears against the innertace 5 tie side plate 25, and a nut101 threaded on said rod is screwed against the outer side of the plate.A loch nut 102 bears against the nut 101 and prevents its turning.

As a protection for the rail 87, and the contact fingers carriedthereby, a curved plate 103 is placed in front of said parts extendsfrom one to the other of the side plates 25, 25. At each end of thecurved plate 103 is an inwardly projecting bracket 10% having a notch inits underside to hoot: over and be supported each by a pin 105projecfrom the inner'face of the side plates. "he lower edge of thecurved plate 108 is fastened to the connecting bar by screws 06extending through slots 10? cut into the lower edge or the curved plate.By this means of attachment the curved plate may be easily removed whenthe con ar to be inspected, by loosening s s, thus permitting thebrackets 104k to be hitid oil the pins 105 and the plate from saidscrews.

' ly connected to the bracketslOt is red guardlOS a extending the lengthof curved piate 10f3 designed to cover the slotted 1 r edge of the comb37 and fur the contact fingers 95 from inhen changing the music sheet.The 'd 108 is connected at one end by a link '09 to the leg 71 of theswinging frame 39 so that when said frame is swung forward to playinc'position, as in Figs. 3 and 12, bringing the contact r ller i-O to bearon the fir rs 95, the guard 108 will, through the linlr 109, be rock dso as to uncover the upper edge of the comb 37 and assume the posltlonindicated in said figures, but when the to the perforations Y 38, thecomb frame 39 is moved in the opposite direction to rewind and insert anew music sheet, the contact roll will be carried away from the fingersand the guard 108 drawn over the comb, see Fig. 13. By thus covering thecomb and contact fingers, the sleeve nor any other part of the playersgarments can touch said fingers.

Roll holders of this type are more or less open to the collection ofdust, to prevent which and cover such parts as may be exposed, a springroller curtain 110 is mounted in the bottom of the roll holder inposition to be grasped by the hand before lowering the holder and drawnover the curved plate 103, guard 108, swinging frame 39 and back to therear of the holder where it is fastened by hooks 111 on the curtainengaging eyes 112 on the cross bar 35. When the roll holder is drawnforward for use, the hooks of the curtain are disengaged and the curtainpermitted to wind on its roller, the hook 111 thereon being fastened topins 113 as in Fig. 3.

End caps 11 1 are provided to inclose the mechanism on the outer sidesof the end plates 25, 25 and are fastened to said plates by means ofscrews 115. These caps have the same contour as the end plates; the oneinclosing the driving mechanism at the left of the machine carries anindex plate 116 for the tempo lever 52, and has an opening in its sidefor the rail adjusting rod 98 to pass through.

Having thus described the invention what we claim as new is:

1. In a device of the character described, a slidable member adapted tobe mounted below the key bed of a musical instrument, a roll holderconnected to said slidable member and arranged to swing up in front ofthe key bed to playing position, and means on said roll holder to bearagainst the front face of the key bed to position the roll holder.

2. In a device of the character described, a slidable member adapted tobe mounted below the key bed of a musical instrument for movement backand forth thereunder, a roll holder pivotally connected on the slidablemember to swing up in front of the key bed into playing position, alatch to lock said roll holder in playing position, and angle piecesfixed on said roll holder having portions arranged to contactrespectively with the bottom and front face of the key bed to positionthe roll holder when raised.

3. In a device of the character described, a slidable member adapted tobe mounted below the key bed of a musical instrument for movement backand forth thereunder, a roll holder pivotally connected on the slidablemember to swing up in front of said key bed above the plane of theslidable member into playing position, a. latch to lock the roll holderwhen raised, and resilient means between the roll holder and the slidingmember for preventing the roll holder falling when the latch isdisconnected.

1. In a device of the character described, a slidable member adapted tobe mounted below the key bed of a musical instrument for movement backand forth thereunder, a 1' roll holder pivotally connected on theslidable member to swing up in front of said key bed above the plane ofthe slidable member into playing position, means for retaining said rollholder in playing position, and a spring connected to the roll holderand to the slidable member serving the double purpose of preventing theroll holder from falling when the latch is disconnected, and retainingsaid roll holder against the underside of the key bed when movedthereunder.

5. In a device of the character described, a slidable member adapted tobe mounted below the key bed of a musical instrument,

a roll holder pivotally connected to said slidable member and arrangedto swing up in front of said key bed above the plane of the slidablemember into playing position,- angle pieces on said roll holder eachadapted to bear at one point only against the front and underside of thekey bed and hold the roll holder rigidly in playing position, a latch onthe roll holder for locking it in playing position, and a spring toassist in raising said roll holder to playing position and prevent thesame from dropping suddenly while being lowered.

6. In a device of the character described, a slidable member adapted tobe mounted below the key bed of a musical instrument, a roll holdermovably connected to said slidable member and arranged to be swung up infront of said key bed to playing position, means for retaining the rollholder in said position, and a resilient connection between the rollholder and the said slidable member for preventing the roll holder fromfalling when the retaining means is disconnected.

7. In a device of the character described, a slidable member adapted tobe mounted below the key bed of a musical instrument, a roll holderpivotally connected to said slidable member and arranged to swing up infront of the key bed to playing position, means on said roll holder tobear against in front of the keyboard to playing position, the rollholder, and a yieldable connection between the roll holder and saidslidable member.

8. In a roll holder for self-playing musical instruments, a frame, atake-up roll, mu-

sic sheet spool supports and sound-controlling mechanism mounted in saidframe, and

a spring-actuated curtain journaled in said frame for covering the partsmounted therein, said curtain arranged to be drawn around said parts andits end secured at the rear of the roll holder frame.

9. A roll holder for self-playing musical instruments, embodying aframe, carrying a, tracker, a take-up roll, and end bearings for a,music spool, a spring-actuated our- 10 tam mounted in the bottom of theframe and adapted to be drawn over the front of the same and be attachedto the rear thereof. In testimony whereof We have hereunto set our handsin presence of two subscribing Witnesses:

IRVING B. SMITH. CHARLES WV. DORRIOOTT. Witnesses:

JOHN L. CoRNoe, WV. 0. RAISNER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addresshgthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, I). G.

